Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance.
The employment insurance fund surplus will have exceeded $25 billion by the year 2000. A sizeable portion of that surplus was created by employment insurance cuts, or in other words savings at the expense of the unemployed. Twenty-five billion dollars, that is more or less the total budget for health, education and social assistance in Quebec.
Is the Minister of Finance not ashamed to restore Canada's financial health by the year 2000 at the expense of the unemployed, who are among the poorest members of society?